Juan Mora Fernandez

Juan Mora Fernandez (July 1784-16 December 1854) was President of Costa Rica from 7 April 1825 to 8 March 1833 (preceding Jose Rafael Gallegos) and from March to April 1837 (succeeding Braulio Carrillo Colina and preceding Manuel Aguilar Chacon). He was the first President of Costa Rica, and he was a Liberal Party member.

Biography
Juan Mora Fernandez was born in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1784, the brother of Joaquin Mora Fernandez. He worked as a merchant from 1806 to 1815, and he became a teacher in 1816 and, before the decade was through, a politician. In 1823, he became a member of the Constituent Provincial Congress, and, when Costa Rica gained its independence from the United States of Central America in 1825, he became Costa Rica's first president. He supported mining exploitation and coffee growth, and he also began to create the first municipal laws. He briefly served as President again in 1837, and he died in 1854.